


A Safe Touch

by RootsArrow (SparklingDarkAngel)



Series: Malec Hurt/Comfort [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Bad Parent Robert Lightwood, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 18:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19067836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklingDarkAngel/pseuds/RootsArrow
Summary: “I’m not weak! I can handle myself!” Alec shouted back.“Getting help doesn’t make you weak, Alexander,” Magnus snapped. In frustration, he threw his hand up to grab his hair.And Alec flinched.





	A Safe Touch

**Author's Note:**

> As always, see warnings in tags and read with care.

It all started when Alec showed up at Magnus’s loft with his arm in a sling. 

 

“Hey, Mags,” he greeted with an easy smile. Magnus raised a concerned eyebrow at the dark sling holding his boyfriend’s arm. With the way shadowhunters were able to heal, seeing one in a sling was a rare sight. Alec didn’t acknowledge it though, instead just passing Magnus into the loft like nothing was wrong.

 

“Did you not use a healing rune?” Magnus asked, concern and confusion lacing his tone.

 

Alec had the audacity to look over at Magnus surprised. “Hmm?” he questioned. Magnus was about to lose his cool when Alec glanced to his arm as if it were an ordinary thing. “Oh, this? I did, but there’s something in the demon’s saliva that keeps it from healing quickly.”

 

Magnus blinked, shocked by the casual explanation. “Saliva?”

 

“Hydra,” Alec replied as if that explained anything. “The damn thing bit me.”

 

Magnus paled at the thought of his nephlim’s arm, fragile in the jaws of the powerful demon. “Let me see,” he demanded, reaching out his arms. Alec obliged, letting Magnus hover his arms above the sling. He gasped at the sight. Teeth marks ripped into his skin, surrounded by green bruises, and at least one of the bones in his lower arm was broken and set. How Alec was able to act like he wasn’t in any pain was beyond him.

 

Gently, the warlock reached out with his magic to touch the demon energy in Alec’s injury. He suppressed another gasp when he felt it, powerful and throbbing beneath the surface. His magic turned red as he pulled on it, drawing the venom from the wound and sucking it into his own demonic blood. Alec couldn’t hide a sigh of relief as Magnus pulled the last of the venom out. “Try it now,” he ordered.

 

Alec raised the stele to his arm and drew an iratze. Within a few seconds, the shadowhunter’s skin had been knit back together, leaving thin white scars where the demon’s teeth had been. The change in his face was subtle, but Magnus knew his boyfriend well enough to see the muscles in his face and body relax. He shrugged the sling off. “Thanks, Magnus.”

 

“Stop pretending you’re not in pain,” Magnus huffed, annoyed. This wasn’t the first time Alec had tried to pull something like this.

 

The look on Alec’s face changed from happy to confused. “I’m sorry?” he offered hesitantly. “I guess I just didn’t realize you would...” he trailed off, unsure of himself.

 

“That I would care?” Magnus asked. He tries to keep the anger out of his voice. He wasn’t angry at Alec, just the nephilim culture he had been raised in. All of his life, Alec had been trained to hide his pain. “I love you,” Magnus responded much softer, eyes pleading. “Can’t you see that seeing you hurt hurts me? Especially if you won’t talk to me about it.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Alec replied, much more sincere. The weight in his eyes reflected the weight in Magnus’s words. “I guess I’m still getting used to this whole boyfriends thing.”

 

Magnus wanted to scream because he shouldn’t have been the first person to show Alec he cared about his pain. That should have been his parents’ job, or at the very least his parabati’s. “Is anyone else hurt?” Magnus asked. “I can draw the venom out of the others.”

 

“Oh, no,” Alec responded lightly. “By the time Jace came back, I had already gotten rid of it.”

 

The warlock blanched. “You faced a hydra alone?” he snapped.

 

As soon as he spoke, he regretted it because he could see shadowhunter’s defenses go up in the tense of his shoulder and coldness in his eyes. “I’m a shadowhunter,” he replied harshly. “It’s my job.”

 

If Magnus hadn’t already had a trying day, he may have been able to reign in his temper. As it was, he had spent the day tending to a werewolf pack that had a nasty tangle with a demon. The whole time he had been thinking of Alec, hoping the same fate hadn’t befallen him. Yet it had.

 

“That doesn’t mean you can’t call for backup!” the warlock argued, frustration showing.

 

“I’m not weak! I can handle myself!” Alec shouted back.

 

“Getting help doesn’t make you weak, Alexander,” Magnus snapped. In frustration, he threw his hand up to grab his hair.

 

And Alec _flinched_.

 

The movement was small, but Magnus noticed it instantly and froze in place. It even felt like his heart had stopped as he tried to process what had just happened. They were standing close, he’d made a sudden movement with his hand, and Alec had braced himself to get hit.

 

He began to analyze every interaction he’d had with the young nephilim. Magnus had never even playfully swatted at Alec before. The warlock had been known to sometimes throw out a fireball in anger, but never with Alec. Their physical relationship was so gentle, leaving Magnus heartbroken and puzzled as to why his angel had reacted like that.

 

Apparently he had been staring too long, because Alec’s cheeks flushed as he stared away at a spot on the wall. “Alexander,” Magnus exhaled shakily, turning the shadowhunter’s eyes back to him. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right?”

 

“Of course I do,” Alec answered immediately. By his face, Magnus knew he was sincere. However, for a brief second, something in Alec’s mind had been scared the warlock was about to strike him.

 

Magnus reached out to Alec’s face slowly. When the shadowhunter made no move to stop him, he rested his hand against his cheek. A gentle, blue light emitted from his hand as the warlock poured his magic into Alec, trying to convey love, comfort, and safety. Alec sighed happily and leaned into the touch.

 

Suddenly, Magnus had a horrible thought that sent chills down his spine. With a snap of his fingers, he conjured up two martinis. The following conversation was going to need alcohol. “Come sit with me?” the warlock requested.

 

Alec nodded and followed his boyfriend to the couch. Magnus eyed him carefully. His defenses were gone again, making Magnus feel so much worse about the question he was about to spring on him.

 

“Alexander... do your parents ever hit you?”

 

The nephilim smiled, but it did not reach his eyes as he averted his gaze. “I mean, we’re Lightwoods. We’re supposed to be some of the best shadowhunters out there. My parents just wanted to make sure of that.”

 

Magnus downed the rest of his martini before attempting to speak again. In his discomfort, Alec had set his down, forgotten. The warlock reached for his boyfriends hands and squeezed. “Do they hit you?” he repeated, softly but firmly.

 

“They used to,” Alec admitted. “Whenever I would disobey or mess something up.”

 

It felt like Magnus’s stomach was turning itself inside out at the thought of someone laying their hands on his angel like that.

 

“It wasn’t that bad,” Alec rushed to explain upon seeing the emotional turmoil on Magnus’s face. “The mark faded after a few days, and it was more humiliating than painful when it was in front of everyone.”

 

Of course Magnus knew that humiliation was pain, but he also knew he wasn’t going to convince Alec of that tonight. “What they did to you was wrong, Alexander,” Magnus stated firmly. “Repeat it back to me.”

 

“What they did to me was wrong,” Alec repeated shakily. His whole body had started to tremble, and his hazel eyes shone. Magnus knew he wasn’t convinced.

 

“Fear should never be used to control you by someone who loves you,” the warlock continued. He knew that all too well. “They made you afraid of getting hurt if you didn’t live up to their impossible standards. But you are good enough, and if anyone ever lays their hands on you again, I’ll make sure they live to regret it.”

 

Alec nodded, still shaking but no longer resisting. Magnus reached his arms out, and the shadowhunter fell into his embrace. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Magnus letting Alec rest against his chest and listen to his heartbeat while the warlock ran his fingers through the shadowhunter’s dark hair.

 

“I don’t think you’re weak at all,” Magnus said, picking up the conversation from earlier. “I love you so much, and that’s why I worry about your safety every time you’re out there. I know shadowhunters often die young and badly, and I honestly can’t bear the thought of losing you. It’s not that I don’t trust your strength and skill. I’ve just lived long enough to see how harmful shadowhunter culture can be. It can blind nephilim into thinking all they are is a weapon, constantly needing to prove their worth to the clave. But Alexander, you don’t have anything to prove. You are so special and lovely just by being you. And id you ever forget that, I’ll be right here to remind you.”

 

The shadowhunter shivered against his chest. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I know I have my own insecurities, but I won’t let that push you away. I love you too.”

 

Magnus continued to stroke Alec’s hair. “Admittedly, it’s pretty badass that you single-handedly took down a hydra,” he teased. “Just promise me you won’t rush in over your head.”

 

“I promise.”


End file.
